Local
Despite shifting dates, Ohio is preparing for a primary that will leave an indelible mark on politics nationwide.
Rob Portman’s decision to retire in 2021 created an open Senate seat that multiple politicians are competing to fill. With Ohio remaining solid red for the past two presidential elections, and serving as the location for a contentious special election last year, the results of the primary elections are expected to be a referendum on many things.
For Republicans, it will indicate how firm Donald Trump’s grasp is on the Republican Party. For Democrats, whether moderate liberals or the growing progressive vanguard, is the future of electoral success.
Sunday, March 20, 2022, 5:30 PM. Sunday, March 20, 2022, 5:30 PM. Evening Event.
Location: jacob’s porch, 45 E. 13th Ave., Columbus. More information on the Facebook Event Page.
Join in-person or live stream.
Saturday, March 19, 6-8pm, Parkview United Methodist Church, 344 S. Algonquin Ave.
1DivineLine2Health is a 501(c)3 public charity based on the West Side of Columbus, Ohio. 1DL2H provides Christ-centered care to the sick who have no access to healthcare. We are compassionate messengers who deliver healing to the broken mind, body, soul, and spirit.
Our mission is to end human trafficking through collaborative and grassroots efforts. We love, respect, and connect directly with our street family. The “Love Bug Street Outreach” is a critical provider for hygiene supplies, Narcan, first aid, infection control measures, and emotional support. The “Love Drop-In Center” is the stationary “Love Bug” whereby the women shower, rest, receive clothes, eat a warm meal, and connect to services. They also have access to wound care and harm reduction supplies.
For us to continue our work, we rely on the generous support of our community neighbors, businesses, and organizations.
I recently received a phone call from Andrew Nortz who is a 6½ year resident of Blendon Township and whose one-acre property abuts a new development of 27.88 acres that is currently being cleared for 156 units of one- and two-bedroom one story apartments. He asked if I would meet with him and his wife and listen to what they had to say about how they and other neighbors were bamboozled by the City of Columbus, developers and the developers’ seasoned zoning attorneys. Andrew had read about my involvement in fighting alongside of the Little Turtle neighborhood against the jaw-droppingly unethical Little Turtle Roadway project that is just around the corner from Blendon Township.
Columbus City Council unanimously approved the rezoning of the property in July of last year. Mr. Nortz gave me a tour on March 16 of the 27.88 acres that is now being developed. He said the area is home to wild turkeys, fox, deer, owls, hawks, raccoons, numerous bird species, wetlands, natural springs and vernal pools.
We recently helped pass the Postal Service Reform Act, which ended unnecessary expenses that had been designed to bankrupt the U.S. Postal Service.
But Postmaster General Louis DeJoy, appointed by Donald Trump, is still hard at work trying to run the USPS into the ground.
He's made plans to buy 148,000 mail delivery trucks from weapons dealer Oshkosh Defense, a company that's moved from Wisconsin to South Carolina to exploit low-wage non-union workers. Ninety percent of the trucks would burn gasoline at a rate of 8 miles per gallon.
Click here to tell Congress: Make the USPS contract require at least 75% electric trucks!
As Ohio’s recent Republican-dominated redistricting process bungles on, any Ohioan who has been paying attention has probably realized the importance of our state’s Supreme Court. Thanks to Republican Chief Justice Maureen O’Connor siding with the court’s three Democratic justices, the uber-gerrymandered Statehouse and congressional maps that the Ohio Redistricting Commission recently passed (along party lines) have now been found to be unconstitutional not once, but THRICE. This rightful rejection of gerrymandering –– as well as the correct protection of Ohio’s new redistricting laws, which are enshrined in our constitution due to their respective 2015 and 2018 ballot initiatives –– has thankfully put the spotlight onto Ohio’s vital (but often forgotten!) third branch of government.
On February 26, 1987, President Ronald Reagan officially declared Proclamation 5613 making March National Disabilities Awareness Month.
Proclamation 5613 called for understanding, instilling confidence, and opportunities to help those with disabilities to live productive and fulfilling lives.
I think inclusiveness benefits individuals with disabilities as well as the rest of our society.
A functioning organism as a society ensures all people have a healthy existence.
I worked as a provider for the Franklin County department of Mental Retardation and Developmental Disabilities (MRDD) until Franklin County MRDD switched to a company called Boundless in 2016. I worked with Boundless until 2020.
A provider goes into the homes of the developmentally disabled. A provider works with social, and life skills from a recommended individual service plan. A provider drives a person with Autism or Down syndrome to work, school, recreation centers, the grocery, and other places where a individual might visit.
Peace, in the deepest sense — in the midst of war — requires a clarity and courage well beyond the boundaries of linear understanding. The warning lights flash. World War III has entered the red zone.
Can we stare into hell and refuse to see . . . an enemy?
This is the deep, haunting need that is now required, as we clutch tomorrow, hold it tight, vow to protect it with our lives. But it’s far too easy, instead, to surrender to a certainty that the other guy — Russia, with the smirking face of Vladimir Putin — is 100 percent wrong, acting solely out of greed and delusional grandeur, which is something we would never do (and have never done). And it goes without saying we are blameless in all this. On with the show!
Human trafficking is the second-largest, and fastest-growing, organized crime activity internationally. The bad news is, Columbus is literally at an interstate crossroads for trafficking.
The Good-News? Here on Columbus’s Westside, the 1DivineLine2Health Drop-In Center on Sullivant Ave is working hard in the streets to change victims into survivors. But we need your help!
JOIN US, this Saturday, March 19th, from 6-8 pm, at Parkview United Methodist Church,
344 S Algonquin Ave, for a fundraising dinner and program. Parkview UMC is on Columbus’s Westside, right next to Westgate Park. And do invite your friends!
Hear the story of the struggle of 1DL2H’s Esther Flores to address the needs of those on the streets of Columbus, as well as the powerful testimony of heroic survivors of human trafficking, all while enjoying a hot meal (with Chicken or Vegan options). This event is $25, and there is an opportunity to contribute more to expand the facilities and programming eventually to all four corners of Columbus. Be a part of the solution!